GEEK EDITOR’S NOTE: From time to time, we like to share the thoughts of other people than ourselves, who may have an opinion on a certain subject.
Today we spotlight a frequent contributor of comments to this website, John Adams.
Adams, like his founding father namesake, has strong views on freedom, liberty, taxation and parking issues in Chicago.
While we don’t always agree on the finer points, our fundamental views are similar. However, despite any differences we have, one can never deny Mr. Adams’ passion and eloquence in his writing.
Parking Ticket Is Just Another Way To Say ‘Tax’
By John Adams
Ticket writing is not about justice. It is not about safety. It is not about the public good. It is not about improvements to roadways.
Ticket writing is about revenue. Pure and simple. It is a tax, and a heavy heavy tax at that.
The same way that City Stickers are taxes. (Does anyone know, is there any other city that requires City Stickers for vehicles?)
The same way that Red Light Cameras are taxes.
These taxes are a heavy burden to citizens of this city. These taxes pose as Laws and Regulations for the good and safety of the general public. And many people fall for the lie.
But these taxes are not about the good of the citizens. They are about revenue.
And I don’t think anyone should pay these taxes.
Ever.
And then, when the City sees that Parking Tickets are a fruitless effort to raise revenue, the laws can then be easily changed to favor taxpayers like you and me.
Street Cleaning signs can be removed, because we know that Street Cleaning is also about revenue. (Street Cleaning on HALF the streets on the last Tuesday and Wednesday of the month? Are you kidding me? WHERE ARE WE SUPPOSED TO PARK? AND WHY IS IT THAT SOMETIMES THE STEET CLEANER DOESN’T EVEN BOTHER TO CLEAN THOSE STREETS?)
So called “Loading Zones” (another was just put up in my neighborhood that took yet another 2 parking spots away) could be layed out into something resembling some kind of order and sense, and maybe even for some kind of actual loading.
So called “Snow Routes” which seem to serve very little purpose other than to be one more sticky, tricky place to park in the winter, if it snows more than 2 inches, and sometimes even if it doesn’t!
Meters and payboxes can become a thing of the past, though a very dark spot on our City’s (and Nation’s) history.
Meter readers can get jobs doing something else. That will save the city some money.
Traffic court judges will have more time for viable court issues, instead of these circus issues like parking tickets.
Police will be able to focus on fighting crime, instead of fighting parking.
The Meters, Denver Boots, and all the illegitimate “No Parking Signs” can be taken to the scrapyard, providing additional revenue for the city.
The Absence of Parking Tickets will save countless trees from destruction, and keep our city cleaner by reducing litter from tickets blown off the windshields. The money saved by not having these printed up can go to fill the revenue gap.
Paper work will be reduced, saving more trees, more time, more money.
It will save gas, as people won’t drive around for hours looking for parking, because bogus loading zones will be reduced, bogus handicapped zones will be reduced, bogus “No Parking from here to curb” will be reduced, and the fear of parking on a snow route in the winter when there is a 10% chance of snow will be reduced.
The Pay Boxes can be turned into lemonade machines in the summer, and hot chocolate machines in the winter, powered by that nifty little solar panel on top.
Do I need to go on?
I’m fed up.
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Mr. Adams, a well written piece, I think ticketing can and does serve a legitimate purpose, however, in this city it is about the revenue. They have raised the fines to ridiculous levels to make more and more money. $50 for street cleaning is silly, it should be $25 tops. The punishment simply doesn’t fit the crime for a lot of these tickets.
To answer your question though, there are many cities that require city stickers. I know Evanston does, and it is the same price as Chicago, $75. I have lived in other cities too in other states that also require a yearly fee in some regard.
I think you’d be hard-pressed to find a city in northern Illinois that *didn’t* require a yearly sticker. A few google searches would have shown you that.
And I really wouldn’t call JA’s writing “eloquent”. More like reactionary and delusional. He should change his moniker to “Master of the Obvious”.
I can’t help be see John’s entire theory flawed. The last three towns I have lived in while owning a vehicle have had some sort of vehicle fee, either through a sticker or as a part of your property tax bill.
And I would hate to live in a city without any sort of parking enforcement, it would be like driving in the Wild West.
Sure revenue is probably a good portion of the ticketing purpose. But guess what, a city needs revenue to run. And the residents get to pay that revenue through taxes, fees, and fines. Scrapping the signs and turning the pay boxes into drink dispensers isn’t going to cut it.
Is the system efficient? Hell No.
Could it stand to be reworked to a degree(or even completely)? Hell Yes.
But it’s what we have, so until things get changed we just have to learn to work within and work around the system as best we can.
Mr. Adams needs to speak to some EMS, firemen and accident investigators and ask them how many tragic accidents they have witnessed where illegal parking has been a contributing factor.
Vehicles blocking fire hydrants contributing to delayed fire suppression.
Vehicles blocking crosswalks and even sidewalks endangering pedestrians.
Vehicles parked in no parking zones obstructing vehicular sight lines.
Vehicles parked in Bus Stops endangering passengers.
Should I go on?
Street cleaning not necessary? Perhaps the City should hold property owners responsible for cleaning their own curbside. Oh but wait, that would mean some type of “enforcement”.
What Adams is really suggesting is that if parking were “free” and unregulated that the honor system would somehow have every Chicago driver humming Kumbaya and magically following the rules of good behavior. “Gosh oh golly, Sheriff Andy and Deputy Fife sure don’t need no traffic control.”
Good luck finding your own personal Mayberry Mr. Adams.
Peter: The safety factor of illegal parking must be why police officers are ALWAYS (read: rarely) careful to park legally, even when taking a break to buy a lottery ticket!
SS:
Perhaps that’s the reason why I left them out of my response… or is it?
Muah ha ha ha ha!
SS,
The police also have a radio alerting them to the emergencies in the area whereas the general public doesn’t. If you called the police would you want them circling around the block looking for legal parking or running a block away to get back into their car to head your way? If the police park illegally to grab a cup of coffee or whatever so be it. In every job you get some perks. At anytime while they are on a break a citizen can approach them and ask for help. I bet if you are on your break you wouldn’t want to be bothered and rightly so.
John Adams,
Traffic court judges don’t handle parking tickets they hear personal service citations. Administrative Hearing officers handle parking tickets.
JA’s solution = parking anarchy
A better way to fix the problem is:
Leave the job to the police, we don’t need PEA, streets and sans, dept. revenue, TMA, etc. all looking for illegal parking. If you have a problem call 311 to forward it to the police. The reduction in payroll would save the city millions. Most to the tickets issued aren’t making the city any money by not being paid. Add in the lower amount of cars parking in business areas that decrease sales tax revenue. If the mayor thinks citizens will continue to go downtown to shop or any business area with these parking problems, he’s nuts. I want to drive my car to shop. I don’t want to take the train, walk, or ride a bike. The surrounding suburbs should be thanking the mayor everyday for the added business.
Lower the fines and meter rates to something reasonable.
Get rid of most of the parking restrictions, like meters, permit parking and loading zones if you have a Chicago city sticker.
Fire the budget director of the city because every year he comes out and says the city won’t make their budget, again.
That’s just the beginning. I’m sure we could all find more ways to add to this.
mark: Rhetorical question: At what time are officers alerted by radio while on a break that they may be causing the following safety concerns Peter raised?:
“Vehicles blocking fire hydrants contributing to delayed fire suppression.
Vehicles blocking crosswalks and even sidewalks endangering pedestrians.
Vehicles parked in no parking zones obstructing vehicular sight lines.
Vehicles parked in Bus Stops endangering passengers.”
P.S. On the rare occasion that I get a break, I can and am often bothered/interrupted, just like many other conscientious workers.
Mark:
Which do you prefer…
1. Police Officers being concerned with Real Crime
2. Police so busy with Parking Enforcement that crime isn’t fought at all.
Cops got better things to do than write parking tickets. And I’ve seen my fair share of cop’s attempt to interfere with Revenue PEA’s simply because they get a free lunch at Hugos or Gibsons…or they throw their ANOV book into the window of their personal car while they work part time security at the Wacker Drive Hyatt.
The City is currently 2000 police officers Short of the Published “desired” 13k number that it is supposed to be at.
There are Less than 160 PEA’s to cover the ENTIRE City.
Cry more.
Although….CTA shouldn’t have Ticket books.
TMA’s shouldn’t be trolling for violations.
As for JA being “fed up.”
You choose to live and drive in this city….deal with it or move.
And about reducing the Street Cleaning Fine From 50 to 25.
ROFL!!!!!
A large percentage of the asshats in this city don’t move their car as it is……the fine drops and no one will move. You are all lucky there are only as many S&S Tow Trucks are there are….the City has Legal Authority to Tow and Impound without a ticket for Street Cleaning Days.
I’m wondering what the hell this post is complaining about with street cleaning. In my ward, it’s a 1/2 mile x 1/4 mile area for two days, then another the next. I was kinda pissed that some jackass parked in front of my house during the cleaning so that the damned leaves didn’t get picked up in that spot.
ss,
It’s covered under: If the police park illegally to grab a cup of coffee or whatever so be it. In every job you get some perks.
The 15 to 30 minutes a car is parked illegally makes me feel good. You know why, because I know there is police in the area if I need them.
The police get a half hour lunch and a 15 min. break. If you want to give them an hour break in turn for legal parking I’m sure they will take it.
And you proved my point about the breaks. No one likes to be bothered while on one.
dor,
I would like the police handle the crime. I’m sure the citizens of Chicago would be more than happy to get rid of every PEA. That is 160 less people to take care of. In exchange, the city could hire a few policemen with them money they saved to handle the huge parking ticket burden left over.
To me, PEA are equivalent to hall monitors. You know, the kids no one liked and then they got a little authority. And then they were liked even less. PEA’s serve no useful purpose other than to generate money for the mayor. If that wasn’t true then why don’t you see PEA’s on the south and west sides? Because there is no money there and it’s too dangerous. Ray-Ray and Pokie don’t like you messin’ with their ride or the selling of drugs. PEA’S are a tax on the middle class.
Funny……..I know for a Fact that PEA’s are deployed to the West side and South Side Daily.
I know for a fact that PEAs work areas on foot that the Middle Class would be terrified to even drive through.
And Mark….you forget.
We live ina city where the Mayor is the biggest crook ever and hates the police.
There will be no increase to police staffing until Dick dies or looses the election.
Hey Bernard Stone, er, Tom:
I should have said “Major Cities”, because the suburbs of Chicago are simply pups sucking at the teats of the Mother Dog. They learn from Chicago’s evil ways and mimic them.
And you were right. A few Google searches (which I had done before I wrote what I wrote) did show me that NO OTHER MAJOR CITY IN THE US has a City Sticker similar to the Chicago City Sticker. In fact, when I put in
“City Sticker New York” I get search returns of “I heart NY” stickers, and such. Los Angeles City Sticker also came up empty. But what’s really interesting is that Chicago City Sticker came up, even when I was searching the other cities.
All this leads me to believe that Chicago (and really, Illinois) is the only place that does this. But I did not want to rely on a few Google searches to base my information on, so I asked if anyone “REALLY KNEW”.
But thanks for suggesting the Google search. That helped a lot.
And I got a good laugh at your “critique” of my writing…I love how I’m “Master of the Obvious” while at the same time my writing is “reactionary” and “delusional”.
Anyway, enough about me. Let’s get busy changing this stupid city.
TKM said:
“And I would hate to live in a city without any sort of parking enforcement, it would be like driving in the Wild West.
Sure revenue is probably a good portion of the ticketing purpose. But guess what, a city needs revenue to run. And the residents get to pay that revenue through taxes, fees, and fines. Scrapping the signs and turning the pay boxes into drink dispensers isn’t going to cut it.”
What I’m trying to say is that parking enforcement in Chicago, the way it is set up now, is NOT about maintaining order, peace, or safety. That should be obvious, since it’s the DEPT OF REVENUE that runs parking enforcement. And I’m trying to say that, while a city needs revenue to run, the city is run for the benefit of the citizens, not for the benefit of “the city”. I don’t like the way parking regulations pose as “safety, for the good of the public” when in reality they are about revenue.
Why must such a heavy tax be put on motorists? Why don’t they charge EVERYONE for revenue? Are you saying that motorists get to pay for the priveledge of driving in Chicago? Well, what if we applied this to pedestrians and bicyclists? Why are pedestrians not charged for jaywalking? I see jaywalking happen all the time, and have NEVER heard of anyone getting a ticket for it. (except that lady who sued the cops for 1.5 million for ruffing her up, but it was obvious what that was all about)
If we are talking about the Wild West, let’s talk about bicyclists on the sidewalk. Why is that never enforced? You want to talk about safety issues? My 6 year old boy was hit by a bike as he came out of our building. He was flipped up end over end and hit his head on the sidewalk. It was horrific. The cyclist was a numbbrain, who didn’t even apologize, and then took off. He should have been charged. The law should be enforced. But it isn’t, and you know why? THERE’S NO MONEY IN IT, THAT’S WHY!
It’s the lack of balance, and the motivation behind the enforcement that make me mad.
Peter Parker Said::
“Mr. Adams needs to speak to some EMS, firemen and accident investigators and ask them how many tragic accidents they have witnessed where illegal parking has been a contributing factor.
Vehicles blocking fire hydrants contributing to delayed fire suppression.
Vehicles blocking crosswalks and even sidewalks endangering pedestrians.
Vehicles parked in no parking zones obstructing vehicular sight lines.
Vehicles parked in Bus Stops endangering passengers.
Should I go on?”
First, we need to differentiate between the parking problems you listed, and the parking problems I listed. In my article, I called my parking problems “Bogus”. I see many many signs that are put up in the name of “loading zone” “handicapped” “no parking from here to curb” etc etc etc. Sometimes these are legitimate needs, but often I see them put up arbitraitly and I can’t help but think that little by little, we are losing parking spots, one or two at a time.
The problems you listed are legitimate parking problems, and these are not what I’m refering to. And in these instances, I’m for towing those cars away at a moments notice. In my article, I never said anything about these instances.
But I’m also having a hard time believing it’s all about safety, because of the bicycle thing I mentioned above, and another incident that involved a truck parked across a crosswalk, forcing a lady with a stroller to go around INTO traffic, and when I stopped a cop and pointed it out, he merely shrugged and said he had more important things to deal with.
Street Cleaning. Let me spell it out for everyone. We need garbage off the streets. So we need street cleaning. However, why is it that on the 4th Tuesday of the month, not only the North side of the street, but also the East side of ALL THE SIDE STREETS IN THE AREA are off limits for parking for the entire day for street cleaning? And the 4th Wednesday, it’s the other side of the streets. And, like I said in my article, why is it that sometimes the street cleaner doesn’t even come? Or, if he has come, why is it still illegal to park on those streets? Don’t you think that if the purpose of the law is to clean the streets, and that to do so we need the cars moved, and that once the job is done, and the purpose has been fulfilled, cars could then be allowed to park there? But cars that park there, even after the purpose of the law is fulfilled, get tickets.
This is not justice. This is wrong, It’s not about cleaning streets. It’s about getting money.
Otherwise, they would clean those side streets on Monday and Thursday, thereby ensuring plenty of parking for everyone. Of course it would still be an inconvenience, but a necessary one that we could all live with. And once the street cleaner came by, parking would then be allowed.
But this would reduce revenue, wouldn’t it.
You really don’t think this is about money? Really? Well, you probably thought I REAlLLY meant to change pay boxes into lemonade machines.
mark: Huh? and that is not rhetorical.
master of the obvious:
“The same way that City Stickers are taxes.”
delusional:
paragraphs 10-21.
Is this sarcasm or stupidity?
Yes, if there were no parking restrictions there would constantly be parking available EVERYWHERE. Huh?
JA,
Yeah but wos ISN’T about revenue? Revenue is what drives the world today. Revenue into my pocket, from there to the cities pocket, from there to whomever the city is paying obscene amounts to for whatever lark they are on this week, etc…
Motorists aren’t the only one paying taxes though (hmm extra 10 cents a bottle for bottled water anyone?), its just that as a vehicle owner there are more visible opportunities from City Stickers(or property tax in some places), to gas, to tolls, to tickets. I look at it this way, leave the parking enforcement in place, because if that goes away they will find a way to get that money in other ways like a higher gas tax, at least with a ticket I can maybe fight it.
With regards to jaywalkers, on these streets taking your life in your own hands like that is punishment enough.
And beleive me, every day I whisper a silent prayer that they start ticketing bike riders for their traffic violations. If someone were to start a petiton to push the city to do this I would sign it and probably even help get more signatures.
I’ve never disagreed that the system is screwy (read the last few lines of my previous post). But ranting and holding one’s breath isn’t going to fix the issues at hand.
Reasonable solutions really need to be put forth in a clear, concise and forcefully polite way. For instance I don’t think a city sticker is an unreasonable fee, I’ve lived in another state where it was a property tax based on blue book value of the car, so it declined through the life of the vehicle. I like the flat annual rate better, prevents guessing and the risk of fuzzy math. But instead of vehicle type (Pas. Car, SUV, Pick Up, etc) base the sticker on gross vehicle weight, with a commercial vehicle upcharge. This way the guy who drives the tiny S-10 doesn’t pull up next to an Expedition and know he got screwed because some gov’t office equates pick ups to comemrcial vehicles automatically. If you use your vehicle, no matter the type for your business, you pay an extra amount. Pretty reasonable wouldn’t you say? well unless you drive an SUV and realize that means you might pay more (haha).
TKM said:
“Yeah but wos ISN’T about revenue? Revenue is what drives the world today. Revenue into my pocket, from there to the cities pocket, from there to whomever the city is paying obscene amounts to for whatever lark they are on this week, etc…”
This is exactly my point. The Law should be about the good of the citizens. Law Enforcement should be about the good of the citizens. When the Law and Law Enforcement become about raising money, they have entirely missed the reason they exist.
From someone much greater than I:
“The law perverted! And the police powers of the state perverted along with it! The law, I say, not only turned from its proper purpose but made to follow an entirely contrary purpose! The law become the weapon of every kind of greed! Instead of checking crime, the law itself guilty of the evils it is supposed to punish!
If this is true, it is a serious fact, and moral duty requires me to call the attention of my fellow-citizens to it. ” – Frederic Bastiat
JA,
I think it boils down to you are arguing theory and I am arguing reality (or at least my sick and perverted view of reality, I apologize to anyone needing therapy after reading my posts). In college I used to always say “theory is great until you toss it into that big ol’ spinning fan, then you just have a stink mess to clean up”
What other punishments would you suggest for violating parking laws and ordinances? Jail? Some of us might as well tell the post office of that permanent change of address. Community service? Maybe, but is it practical? Fines? Got those now, and hell may as well kill two birds with one stone and pay for a few city services as well. And what is a fair amount? One that won’t push you into bankruptcy, but at the same time it’ll make you think twice before repeating the offense.
Then again I’ve only lived in the city a few months and can still count the number of tickets on one hand…I’m probably just not as jaded and as such I am still willing to accept this stuff as the price of owning a vehicle.
TKM,
I’m not arguing theory. I’m saying the very reason for some of these parking laws is to raise revenue for the city, and that is wrong.
Let’s go back to some year before there were parking meters, when cars were first starting to become more common. What did they do? I’m theorizing here, and I’m no historian, but humor me.
Cars were new, people parked anywhere they liked. They parked in crosswalks. They parked by fire hydrants, they parked all the way to the corners of intersections and blocked visibility. It was mayhem. After a while it was realized that there needed to be some order to things. Lives were endangered, so laws needed to be put in place. Cars were no longer allowed to park in crosswalks, by fire hydrants, or all the way to the corner. There were even places where loading and unloading took place all day long, so they put signs up that disallowed parking in those spots. The law was made, and for the good of the people.
And if someone did park in those spots, they were fined, because they broke the law, which was put in place for the good of the people. The system worked.
Then someone realized that in business areas, cars were parking all day long and patrons of the businesses didn’t have anywhere to park. So they installed meters with a 2 hour limit. This would ensure that there would be a constant overturn of cars, and parking spaces, and give everyone a place to park, instead of just a few cars hogging the spots all day long. So far so good.
But then the City realized that they could charge more for the meters, and make some money off of this. They realized that people had come to accept meters and parking regulations, because up to that point the reasons for the parking regulations had been “for the good of the public”.
They realized that they could invent all sorts of reasons to limit parking even more, making it harder to find legal spots. They realized they could “set people up for a fall” by putting up odd parking hours, more so-called loading zones, more so-called handicapped zones, weird rules for snow routes, and removing half the streets on every 4th Tuesday and Wednesday of the month for Street Cleaning, and on and on.
They were sitting on a Gold Mine, and everyone would blindly accept it, because the reasons for the laws and regulations would APPEAR to be “for the good of the citizens” but in REALITY would be to bring in revenue that would most likely NOT be used “for the good of the citizens.”
I have seen this very thing happen in my neighborhood over the last 20 years. There is another “loading zone” for 4 dumpsters. About 20 feet down is a driveway opening that could be used to pull the dumpsters out to the garbage truck. But instead, they took 2 more spots away. And the garbage truck still has to block the entire street, as it is a narrow one-way street.
About 30 yards down from this is a “No Parking from here to corner” sign that takes up 2 spots. There is NO VIABLE REASON for this sign. There is no safety issue. On the other side of the street no such sign exists. Why? If anything, there would need to be more visibility on that side, since that is the side of oncoming traffic.
Another area just past a bus stop used to exist about 4 or 5 spots for parking. No, suddenly, it’s a loading zone. But it is by a clinic, with plenty of parking in the parking lot, and NO LOADING EVER TAKES PLACE THERE!
And these are just a few of the examples that I have seen JUST IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD. I wish I could post pictures of some of these examples. I would love to go around with a camera and a clipboard and document some of these outrageous regulations and get them changed back so we could have a few more spots for parking.
And none of this includes the RED LIGHT CAMERAS. Do you REALLY think that red light cameras were installed to promote safety? Do you really think that the 3 second yellow light is safe? All of this is in place to bring in money. But it POSES AS LAWS FOR THE SAFETY AND GOOD OF THE CITIZENS.
But that is all a lie.
So that’s why it frosts me when people say “just park legally” or “you signed on for this, if you don’t like it, move.” Statements like these show acceptance of the status quo, acceptance of our lack of power to bring about change.
But I’m not falling for it….
But I don’t know what to do about it.
Yes, I’m casting my vote against Daley. But I’m just one person. And he has big business on his side, he has corrupt alderman on his side, and somehow they seem to make up the majority, and so Daley and his croneys will get elected again. Unless we can get everyone together to get him out. That’s what I’m hoping for.
But what do we do in the meantime? “Just parking legally” doesn’t seem to make much of a statement. I refuse to be a sheep.
JA:But what do we do in the meantime? “Just parking legally” doesn’t seem to make much of a statement. I refuse to be a sheep.
Watch out for the wolves then boyo.
And JA…..
Some days…when I think about the Aldermen and Dicky Daley and the Machine in this city……
I can kind of understand John Wilkes Booth.
Hey Brian,
Can you tell me how parking restrictions INCREASE parking? Can you give me the logistics of how this works, because in my simple mind, all the regulations we have in place now make it HARDER to park, not easier.
Please enlighten me.
DoR,
What the heck are you talking about?